Arts Column: A deep interest in Bermuda’s architecture

The landscape Lyman chose for this Bermuda painting is at the bottom of Keith Hall road at the junction of Harbour Road. It looks over the Granaway Deep and the Great Sound from approximately the same spot Winslow Homer painted Inland Water. After graduating from McGill, Lyman travelled to Europe in 1907 and eventually made his way to Paris, enrolling in the Academie Julian and striking up a long friendship with James Wilson Morrice the famous Canadian artist about whom he eventually wrote a manuscript. It was soon after he became intrigued by Henri Matisse and enrolled in Academie Matisse which deeply influenced his painting. It is thought that he was largely responsible for introducing the French post-impressionist school of painting to Canada after World War I.

Lyman’s first visit to Bermuda was in the fall of 1913 with his wife Corrine St Pierre where he supervised the construction of a cottage near his uncle’s home, “Southlands”. Lyman had a deep interest in Bermudian architecture and spent many years on an unpublished book The Old Bermudas-their Architecture, Furniture etc.

The Lymans continued to visit the islands for many years and he produced an impressive body of Bermuda-inspired artwork.

Elise Outerbridge is curator of Masterworks.